Major Gifts

Are You a Major-Gifts Explorer?
February 26, 2016 at 10:21 am

To achieve long-term success as a major gifts officer, you have to understand how complex your world is in reality. You are an explorer as you set sail to build new relationships—internally with staff, administration and volunteers, and externally with prospects. You must have clarity of purpose and focus as each relationship and fiscal year is different...

Stanford, With Another $400M Donation, Is Out-Fundraising All Other Schools
February 25, 2016 at 10:55 am

With a $22 billion endowment, Stanford University is hardly hurting for money. Yet the West Coast school keeps pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, and its fundraising efforts are pulling away from the rest of the nation’s elite schools, including the traditional Ivy League powerhouses on the other side of the country. Stanford…

The Way of Wisdom: Why It Pays to Seek Major-Gifts Counsel
February 22, 2016 at 10:55 am

He was driving around for almost half an hour. He was lost. He had no idea where he was. Even his GPS was no help. There was no way he was going to get to his destination. There was no source of information he could tap into. Does this scenario sound familiar? Have you ever been with someone who was lost who keeps driving around saying things like, “Seriously, I think it’s right up this street,” or, “We’re pretty close,” but he or she will not stop and ask someone for directions?...

Be the Change: Put Donors First
February 15, 2016 at 10:47 am

I want to let you in on a secret. Almost every day Richard and I get notes and emails from major gift officers, who, like you, are readers of our blog and lament that their bosses, executive directors or boards are making it impossible to do their jobs. Richard and I have a ton of empathy for your situations....

Veterans Charity Turns Down On-Stage Trump Donation
February 9, 2016 at 10:48 am

Donald Trump wanted a small veterans charity to be his political prop. It said "no." Liberty House—one of the 22 organizations chosen to benefit from Trump’s multimillion-dollar fundraiser for veterans—is a scrappy veterans group in New Hampshire, with a small, $300,000 annual budget. On Friday, Liberty House Executive Director Keith Howard received a call from…

Why Major Gift Officers Fail
February 8, 2016 at 11:26 am

The reasons for major gift officer (MGO) failure, other than the person not having the skills to do the job, are pretty basic. What I find interesting is that MGOs can simply decide to not let any one of these points be a reason for their failures. They can, literally, flick switches in their minds and make the decision to head in another direction if they want.

Getting Your Luck to Hold: Attaining Sustainable Revenue
February 4, 2016 at 10:06 am

Julie reached out to me a few weeks back to share a situation at her health-related nonprofit. She began by telling me an initial blockbuster success her organization recently had experienced with its first attempt at seeking “major” gifts....

Nation’s Colleges Raise More Than $40B, Study Says
February 3, 2016 at 10:00 am

U.S. colleges and universities raised a combined $40.3 billion in fiscal year 2015, with Stanford and Harvard universities each surpassing $1 billion ($1.63 billion and $1.05 billion, respectively)....

7 Practical Ways to Surprise Your Donors
February 1, 2016 at 11:25 am

Caring for, nurturing and developing relationships with your donors is what major-gift fundraising is all about. If you do that well, the money will follow. Providing your donors with amazing service will set you apart from all the other charities that are clamoring for your donors. Make no mistake; as much as you may not want to think about it, you are competing for the attention of your donors with dozens of other organizations.